Should the definite article "the" be used in "periods of [the?] Italian economic history"?

I came across this phrase and I'm wondering whether a definite article should be placed there, or not:

...for long periods of [the?] Italian economic history...

Although my instinct tells me it is okay without "the", I was thinking that, (a) it doesn't refer to the academic field of economic history but rather to history as the events that took place; (b) it refers to a specific noun, rather than to an indefinite one - for example, we would say "long periods of inflation", but "for long periods of the dictatorship", if we made reference to a specific dictatorial regime.